CHRISTMAS ROBINS

I've taken the sketch from Inspire Create Challenge blog to create my little robin card.  The robin stamp is from Creative Expression and the sentiment is from Woodware called Loving Christmas.

I started by inking my background with Tim Holtz Bundled Sage Oxide Ink. I then stamped the robins in Versafine Pinecone.  The pine trees are an old stamp from Tim Holtz which come with their own die.  I inked tem in Versafine Shady Lane and then sprinked them with Tim Holtz Fresh Balsam Mica Stain to give them a sheen and a shine.  I used a Tim Holtz stencil for the trees in the background and used the same Bundled Sage just to give a subtle look.

The robins were coloured with Distress Watercolour Pencils - these are fast becoming my favourite way to colour especially as you can determine how vivid the colours are.  I added a touch of Spectrum Noir glitter pen to their bodies.  A splattering of snow from a white Posca pen completed the card.

I'm adding this into the following challenges:

Inspire, Create - Sketch 

Allsorts Challenge Blog - AG 

Inkspirational - Winter 

As You See It - I love using the Distress Water Colours 

Creative Fingers - AG 

The Outlawz - Christmas 

ADDICTED TO STAMPS AND MORE #479 ANY OCCASION

Welcome back to Addicted to Stamps and More and our challenge of Any Occasion.

Sadly I recently had to send a Sympathy card and wanted something nice and gentle.  This stamp by Alison Bomber was just perfect.  I masked off the square in the middle and added three shades of Distress Ink.  I simply stamped the seed head and the word peace from Alison's set EAB41 from Paper Artsy.

I'm adding this into the following:

Simply Cas - AG

Krafty Chicks - CAS 

Creative Moments - Monochrome 

IT'S A KIND OF MAGIC......

Having a play with some Lavinia stamps again - I really think I need to add another fairy to my collection cause I only seem to have the one - Seren.  I used a background that was in my stash which I'd made with a gel press a few weeks ago - not sure it's not too busy for the scene but hey ho - I've gone with it. 

I'm adding this into the following challenges:

Allsorts 802 - Magic Myths or Legend

Conjuror of Dreams - AG 

Crafty Calendar - AG 

Heart's Quest - AG 

Simply Ellibell - AG 

AUTUMN

I have been having a play with the gel press and this was one of the background I tried - using a stamp of a leaf in the gel press to see how it turned out.  I was quite pleased with it so decided to create it into a card.  I added some extra stenciling of extra leaves. I added some leaf stamps by Tracy Evans.  A real leaf was tucked behind the sentiment.

I'm adding this into the following challenges:

Colourful Options - Orange 

Daisy Chain Challenge - Autumn 

Girlz make Guyz cards - Autumn/Fall

Inspire/Create - Autumn 

Allsorts - Falling Leaves 

My time to craft - Autumn 

LAVINIA STAMPS - THE COLOUR PURPLE

I've been playing a lot with my Lavinia stamps at the moment - it's nice to swap things around and revisit old friends.  Let's Craft and Create wanted to see the colour purple so that was my basis for creating this tag.  I masked off the moon with a Lavinia circle stick on stencil.  Seriously how did I not find out about these stencils earlier - they are so easy to use!  I then used lots of lovely Tim Holtz Distress Oxides and Distress inks to create the purple background.  

I created the moon face by using a Tim Holtz stencil and some Lost Shadow ink.  All other stamps are Lavinia.

I'm adding this to the following:

Let's craft and create - Purple 

Twooldbatschallenge - Inspired by the purple colours and the cat 

Double Trouble - purple yellow orange 

Dream Valley - AG 

The fairy and the unicorn - AG 

INSPIRATION STATION #66

Look at this gorgeous image to inspire you this month from Inspiration Station .  Autumn is my favourite time of the year - which is just as well as we seemed to have missed summer this year here in the UK and a lot of the days have felt autumnal.  But once the leaves start turning colour, and the winter stews are on and the fire is lit is when I'm at my happiest.  Sadly my own sunflowers were not very good this year - their main ingredient for life - sun - was sadly lacking so I've had to make do with a stamp instead! 

I started off my card with my gel press and adding inks and a stencil to create the leafy background.  I then stamped the lovely sunflower from Tracy Evans set and cut out an extra flower to add on top to create interest and layers with a touch of twine behind the flower. 

I've added some extra stamping around the sides from a lovely set I won from Brenda which has great elements in it including a crackle stamp which I love. Its called Botanical Blass by Highlight Crafts - not a company I'm familiar with. 

I'm adding this into the following:

My Time to Craft 

Inspire Create - Autumn 

Daisy Chain - Autumn

Colourful Options 

Allsorts - falling leaves - my stencil 

CREATIVE ARTISTE MIXED MEDIA challenge #109

My goodness aren't the months flying by.  Welcome back to October's Creative Artiste Mixed Media challenge where we want to see at least three different mediums on your project. 

A good crafting friend of mine had recently been on a paper making course and was showing me what she had made and very generously offered me some of her papers.  The one I chose inspired my canvas this month.  It was made from sunflower seeds and stems from a sunflower.  It is very delicate so I added some clear gesso for extra strength before I could start adding to it.  You can see it as my background on top of the canvas. It gives a great layer of texture to the piece.

I used one of the stamps from Alison Bomber's set Umbels which I stamped onto tissue paper and then added it to the handmade paper.  My friend had also just got back from the US and had kindly bought me a Tim Holtz ephemera pack.  Can you believe she went into one of the craft stores and they had never heard of him!!  The pieces I chose were the perfect colour for my muted autumnal background.

I added some Distress Ink to the edges of the canvas and used one of Alison's crackle stamps to stamp around the edges.

THE MALE ROOM CHALLENGE - #191 TREES

Welcome back to another challenge at The Male Room where we are looking for your Tree projects.  I've been on a sort of fantasy vibe lately so I think my card reflects that.  I've used a Visible Image stamp set called Into The Woods.

And oh woe is me - can you see that little owl stamp sitting in the tree - well it's flown away - I've lost it somehow from when I made this card.  It's such a tiny stamp it could be anywhere - I've checked all the usual places - even the dog but it's not turned up yet.  Fingers crossed as it's such a useful little stamp. 

ADDICTED TO STAMPS - BIRTHDAY #478

Welcome back to another Birthdays challenge here at Addicted to Stamps and More.  I've used a lovely stamp by Tim Holtz on my card.  The background was made with a colour wash of various Tim Holtz Distress Inks to give a summery feel.  Not that we had a summer but I must still have been hoping for one when creating this card!

I added a script stamp to the background then added white embossing powder to make it pop. I stamped the stamp and cut out a further butterfly to add on top to give further interest and dimension.  

PEARLY SPARKLES - FANTASY

Welcome back to another challenge at Pearly Sparkles and our theme of Fantasy.  

I've recently discovered Lavinia Stamps' stick on stencils and they are amazing.  Such a great idea and my first purchase was the lovely vases.  They are quite big though but I think they also do a smaller size.  I used the stencil to create my scene within the vase.  I've used a lot of Lavinia stamps for my scene with a few infill of foliage stamps by Tracy Evans.  I'm finding these scenes quite addictive to create! 

I'm adding this into the following challenges:

Allsorts - AG - opps sorry I got the last one wrong Brenda lol! 

More than words - my spirit animal is the Hare and you will find them all over my house and garden. The hare spirit animal is one of new beginnings and that's certainly true for me in the last few years.

Double Trouble - AG  

DARING CARDMAKERS - MAKE IT SHAKE

The challenge this week at Daring Cardmakers is to make it shake.  This is my final week of the month as Guest Designer and it's been great fun.

I'm not a great fan of shaker cards as I find them so tricky but did fancy doing a wobbly card. The background was made on a gel press with some background stamping.  I used a TH stencil for the pattern behind the cat.

I've used one of Tim Holtz snarky cats and double stamped him adding a wobbler just simply made of paper.  I added some googly eyes for extra wobble. I also added some glossy accents to the balloon and his tie.

I'm adding this into the following:

Allsorts - AG 

Alphabet Challenge - M is for masculine 

Crafty Catz - AG plus stencil 

Creative Friday - Animals 

KraftyChicks - AG 

Simon Says Stamp - AG Wednesday 

Make My Monday - own background 

DARING CARDMAKERS - LEAFY LUSHNESS

Leafy Lushness is our brief over at Daring Cardmakers.  I created a stencil with a cut out of a leaf to create my scene using Lavinia Stamps.  I used Tim Holtz Distress Oxide in Bundled Sage and Wild Honey for inside the leaf.  I added just a soft amount of the Sage around the edge of the card and some words from Lavinia. 

I'm adding this into the following:

Shopping our stash - leaves 

Stencil Fun - plus autumn 

I have a new rescue cat Luna who at only 2 had already had a hard life.  She was a farm cat for a year and then became a mum and the cat rescue found her and looked after her.  For a year she lived outside in one of their pens then we came along in July to add her to our brood of 13 year old cat, 14 year old dog and 18  month dog.  For the first two months she stayed in her bedroom only coming out to stay at the top of the stairs.  Slowly paw by paw over the last month she has gained in confidence and is navigating her way around the house and coming to realise the other pets aren't going to hurt her.  She's even started going outside and feeling grass under her paws for the first time in over a year.  Her favourite place at the moment is to come and sit by me while I craft.  This is a huge step for her and it's lovely to have her company. 

ADDICTED TO STAMPS AND MORE - #477 CHRISTMAS

Welcome back to another challenge at ATSM and we are back on Christmas.  I saw a lady in Tracy Evan's FB group do a wonderful bubble card and really fancied having a go.  I managed to find a You Tube tutorial by Laura Wenn and will pop the link down below.  I didn't have any  of the silver ink that was used for the bubble to create the frosting so I improvised with glitter and a fern stamp. 

I think my bubble is a little bit large but by then I was committed to my card so thought I'd continue with it.  I've used the new release from Tracy Evans Boutique Designs called Winter Delights.  I just love those little penguins!  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0poBOELlmho&t=23s

I'm adding this into the following:

12 months of Christmas 

Christmas Crafts - Trees or Barns 

Festive Fridays - Christmas 

Peace on Earth 

Merry Little Christmas 

DARING CARDMAKERS - ON THE BALL

I'm back for another week as Guest Designer for Daring Cardmakers.  Our Brief for this project is On the Ball and luckily that could include ballroom as I really don't have anything in my stash for ball games.

I was gifted this lovely stamp set by a member of my Joy of Sets Facebook Group Hazel Anne - and although it is not a set I would have chosen I've loved using it and it's come in handy especially for birthday cards.  I do love the Art Deco feel to it and thought it was perfect for this challenge. Its from Hunkydory and is called I Dream of Deco.

I stamped the images first - the man in Versafine Nocturne and the lady in Versafine Medieval Blue.  I then simply coloured a background water colour wash carefully around them with two Distress Oxides - Wild Honey (one of my favourite at the moment ) and Iced Spruce.  I added additional stamping and some Nuovo dots and sparkle to her dress. 

WELCOME AUTUMN

Autumn is my favourite time of year but it's come far too early as we have hardly had a summer yet here in Wales and now we are almost into winter!  So much wet weather.  Hopefully we will get a few dry crisp sunny days to enjoy the autumn colours.

This was definitely on my mind this wet Sunday with my next card.  I used a combination of stamps from Lavinia, Alison Bomber, Visible Image and Tracy Evans to create my little scene.  I used a leaf stencil from Visible Image to add extra leaves in the same Wild Honey distress Ink to the background.  Colours are from Tim Holtz Distress Oxides apart from the shimmer on the little light and the rose hips which are Renaissance Colours hand made paints.

I'm adding this into the following challenges:

Allsorts Challenge Blog - Autumn Colours 

Colourful Options - Be Bold 

Lets Create - AG 

Day of the month - Autumn Stroll 

Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers - A is for Autumn 

Simply Create Too - Autumn 

Tic Tac Toe - Leaves, Ink Blending, Multiples 

Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday - Stamp It 

Four Seasons Challenge - Fall 

How exciting to be the Designer's Choice at Tic Tac Toe 

DARING CARDMAKERS - INSPIRATION BOARD

Another week for me to play along with Daring Cardmakers as Guest Designer. This week we have this lovely mood board to inspire us choosing 3 elements from the board.  

I chose some old stamp sets from Tracy Evans for my card - taking inspiration from the jars of flowers, the colours and the circles from the coffee cup.  I do love jars or jugs or vase stamps for flowers and this is just such a lovely one to work with.  The sentiment at the bottom is some Washi tape.